Welt hold-down for sole attaching machines



Sept. 20, 1938. c, PEPIN 2,130,366

WELT HOLD-DOWN FOR SOLE ATTACHING MACHINES Filed March 4, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 20, 1938. c. H. PEPlN WELT HOLD-DOWN FOR SOLE ATTACHING MACHINES Filed March 4, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 20, 1938 UNETED STATES 2,13%,3tii

PATENT OFFIQE WELT HOLD-DOWN FOR SOLE ATTACH- ING MACHINES Application March 4, 1937, Serial No. 129,016

10 Glaims.

This invention relates to welt holddowns and is illustrated herein as embodied in an improved welt holddown for machines used in cement-attaching soles to shoes.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved holddown for the welt or sole extension of a shoe to the bottom of which sole attaching pressure is to be applied, which holddown may be used with equal facility for operating on various styles and sizes of shoes, particularly youths and childrens shoes.

In accordance with the foregoing, a feature of the invention comprises a novel, flexible, welt engaging element or member of suificient length to embrace the forepart of the largest shoe to be operated upon, and capable of being wrapped around or conformed snugly to only the corresponding part of the periphery of any smaller shoe, leaving the surplus end portions of the holddown element standing out, clear of the shoe, so as not to interfere with the proper application of the operative, intermediate, portion of the device. This welt engaging element may advantageously be made of rubber sufiiciently flexible to conform to the shoe but stiff and firm enough to sustain the pressure to which it will be submitted and, therefore, not adapted to be bent sharply outward. I have provided for the latter requirement by securing the rubber, as by vulcanization, to a thin layer of strong, flexible, backing material, such as canvas or the like, and dividing the rubber, in the region where sharp bending is desired, into a series of substantially separate, narrow blocks.

The invention further includes means for sustaining the flexible welt engaging member for movement about adjustable supports and spring tension means by which its effective length is yieldingly shortened whenever a shoe is removed, but accommodates itself automatically to the length of any shoe in response to forward pressure from the toe of the shoe. As shown, spirally wound springs, of the clock spring type, are used to draw the ends of the welt engaging member outward around anti-friction rolls carried at the ends of floating arms, which are also provided with crease plates of restricted area upon which portions of said member rest and are slidably supported.

Preferably the arms are so connected together,

by equalizing linkage, that they float easily toward one side or the other to accommodate the lateral position of the sole and shoe upon the pad while preserving substantially unchanged the spaced relation to which they have been set for shoes of that width.

The above and other features and advantages of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of the forward portion of the pad box of a sole attaching machine equipped 5 with my improved welt holddown;

Fig. 21's a view, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, upon the line II-II of Fig. 1, illustrating a detail of the side support for the welt supporting member;

Fig. 3 is a view in front elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged angular View further illustrating a detail of the side support for the welt supporting member.

The welt holddown apparatus of my present invention is illustrated herein as applied to a cement sole attaching machine having a pad box of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,049,453, granted August 4, 1936, upon an application filed in the names of Frank Kennison et a1. Accordingly, the main casting I0 of the pad box is shown as similar to that designated by the same numeral in the said patent, as is also the slidably mounted mask plate 82 upon which are formed rack teeth 90 engaged by pinions 86 and 81 operated by a hand wheel 92.

Fixedly mounted in the mask plate 82, and movable therewith, are vertical pivots l2 and I4 upon which are journaled swinging arms l6 and 18, respectively. Since these arms are approximately symmetrically arranged with respect to the longitudinal axis of the pad box and the parts carried and operated by them are substantially alike, it will suflice to describe in complete detail the arl rangement of the parts at one side of the pad box.

Mounted upon a horizontal pivot 20 carried by the arm It or I 8, as the case may be, is a supporting arm 22 which is sustained in a raised position by a torsion spring 24 surrounding the pivot, the limit of elevation of the supporting arm being determined adjustably by a stop screw 26.

In the outer portion of the arm 22 there is provided a horizontal bore to receive a cylindrical pin 28 which is integral with a block 30, Figs. 1 and 4. A flat leaf spring 32 secured to the supporting arm 22 by a screw 84 bears yieldingly upon face of the block 30, permitting the block to turn somewhat about the axis of the pin 28 when rotative force is applied.

J ournaled upon a vertical pin 36 secured in the block 38 are anti-friction rolls 38 for engagement with the outer face of the welt supporting member and also movable about the axis of the pin 36 is a bracket 48 having a projecting flange 42 which is sustained in a slot 44 in the block 30. A pull spring 46, one end of which is attached to a pin 48 fixed in the bracket 48 and through the other end of which passes a rod 58 lying in a groove 52 formed in the face of the block 38. tends to keep the bracket 48 turned in a clockwise direction as it is looked down upon but permits it to turn in the opposite direction to allow a crease plate 54, secured to the under side of the bracket 40' by screws 56, to accommodate itself to the welt crease of a shoe engaged by it.

The crease plate 54 serves to sustain a U- shaped, flexible, rubber welt supporting member indicated in its entirety by the reference numeral 58. This welt supporting member is adapted to be conformed to the forepart of a shoe, as shown particularly in Fig. l, and is secured permanently, as by vulcanization, to a backing strip 60 of flexible material such as fabric or the like, which is substantially inextensible. The welt supporting member 58 is not secured to the crease plate 54 which sustains it, but merely rests upon the crease plate and is freely movable over the same, the backing strip 60 engaging and being supported and guided by the rolls 38 at the point where the welt supporting member is bent outward away from the shoe.

Although sufficiently flexible to conform readily to the contour of the forepart of a shoe, the rubber or equivalent material of which the member 58 is made must be firm and stiff enough to sustain the pressure to be applied to the welt of the shoe and consequently cannot be bent sharply outward, substantially at right angles, around the rolls 38 unless special provision is made for permitting such bending. This is accomplished by making the end portions of the member 58, where they have to be bent outward, of a series of substantially separate, narrow blocks of rubber secured to the backing strip 60. These blocks may be entirely separate or may be integral with the toe portion of the member 58 with such deep slashes between the blocks that only a thin web of connecting material remains. v I

In order to insure the outward bending of the ends of the welt supporting member 58 at all times around the side supporting rolls 38, outward tension is continuously exerted upon their extremities by spiral springs 64 of the clock spring-type. The supporting arm 22 is slotted, as shown at 66, to receive the spring 64, the inner end of which is bent sharply inward and maintained in a slot in a pin 68 held in the arm 22 and prevented from turning by a cotter pin II! which pass-es through the slot in the said pin 68, as best shown in Fig. 2. By removing the cotter pin, the pin 88, which has a screw driver slot in its head, may be turned to wind the spring 64 to the desired tension, whereupon the cotter pin is replaced.

The toe part of the welt supporting member 58 is secured at I2 to a slidable toe supporting plate 74 which is freely movable upon the mask plate 82 longitudinally of the pad P between limits deermined by a slot I6 in the plate, through which passes a stationary pin 18.

When there is no shoe upon the pad the springs 84 will draw the ends of the member 58 outward and pull the toe supporting plate "f4 rearward over'the pad until the limit of its movement is reached. When the toe of a shoe is placed against the toe part of the member 58 and pushed forward, the flexible end portions of said member will be pulled around the rolls 38 to conform progressively to the forepart of the shoe until forward movement of the shoe is stopped by engagement of the backing strip 60 on the outside of the welt supporting member 58 with the shoe gages 280 and 282, which are identical with those designated by the same reference numerals in the Kennison et a1. patent, hereinbefore referred to, and which have previously been set and locked in position.

Since the entire welt holddown apparatus is mounted upon the mask plate slide 82, it may be adjusted as a whole, longitudinally of the pad, by turning the hand wheel 92 and it will normally be so adjusted that the rolls 38, about which the surplus end portions of the welt supporting member are bent outward away from the shoe, are in register with the ball line portion of the pad P. The above described action of the welt holddown mechanism will then permit the holddown to conform properly to the foreparts of shoes of various sizes, all of which are positioned with their ball lines at about the same place upon the pad.

The positioning of the arms I6, I8 and the side supports carried thereby is effected by mechanism which will now be described.

An equalizer 88, which is arranged transversely of the pad box, is connected by links Ill!) and I82 to the arms I6 and I8, respectively. The center of the equalizer is pivoted at I84 to a lever I 86 which is in turn pivoted at I88 to a bracket IIEJ fixedly secured to the mask plate 82. Near the free end of the lever I06, which is under the influence of a pull-spring IIZ tending to draw it toward the rear of the pad box, a screw H4 is pivoted at I IE to the said lever. This screw passes freely through an opening in a bracket H8 fixedly secured to the mask plate 82 and has threaded upon its outer portion an adjusting nut I28, by which the lever I05 can be adjusted, against the tension of the spring H2.

By inspecting Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be apparent that rearward adjustment of the lever I88 will move the equalizer 8B rearward and will consequently, by swinging the arms I6, I8, move the supporting rolls 33 at the opposite sides of the shoe toward each other, while adjustment of the lever I85 forwardly will produce the opposite effect. It is to be noted that, with any given adjustment, the spacing between the rolls 38 at opposite sides of the shoe is substantially preserved by reason of the then stationary condition of the pivot I04 although the equalizer and link connections permit them to be moved together in either direction transverse to the pad, to accommodate the position of the welt supporting member 58 to the transverse position of the shoe upon the pad.

Shown in Fig. 3 are the toe pad I 22 and the pressure member I24 for applying downward pressure to the toe portion of the shoe and the welt holddown, respectively, which are not of my invention but are commonly used in sole attaching machines of the type to which my novel welt holddown is shown as applied.

Having described my invention, what is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a welt holddown, a U-shaped rubber welt supporting member capable of conforming to the forepart of a shoe, the end portions of said member comprising substantially separate blocks of rubber, and a flexible backing strip to which said member, including the blocks, is secured.

2. In a welt holddown, a U-shaped, flexible, welt supporting member capable of conforming to the forepart of a shoe, the end portions of said member each comprising a series of substantially separate blocks of material, and a flexible backing strip of inextensible material to which said member, including the blocks, is secured.

3. A welt holddown comprising a U-shaped flexible, welt supporting member capable of conforming to the forepart of a shoe and having end portions capable of being bent outward away from the shoe, supporting means for the toe part of said member, supporting means for the end portions of said member at the points where they are bent outward, and means for continuously exerting an outward pull upon the extremities of said member.

4. A Welt holddown comprising a flexible, welt supporting member capable of conforming to the forepart of a shoe and having an end portion bent outward away from the shoe, and a spiral spring of the clock spring type connected to said end portion and exerting an outward pull thereon.

5. A welt holddown comprising a U-shaped, flexible, welt supporting member capable of conforming to the forepart of a shoe and having end portions capable of being bent outward away from the shoe, means slidable longitudinally of the shoe for supporting the toe part of said member, supporting means over which said end portions are movable at the points where they are bent outward, and means for exerting a yielding outward pull upon the extremities of said member.

6. A welt holddown comprising spaced supports adjustable to the width of a shoe to be operated upon, a flexible welt supporting member movably sustained by and between said supports with its extremities extending outwardly, and springs exerting a continuous outward pull upon the extremities of said member.

'7. A welt holddown comprising a flexible, welt supporting member, spaced supports upon which said member is movably sustained, rolls upon the supports around which said member is guided with its extremities extending away from each other, and springs exerting a continuous outward pull upon the extremities of said member.

8. In a sole attaching machine, a sole supporting pad, a pair of side supports disposed above the pad at the ball line thereof, a toe support disposed above the pad in front of the ball line and movable longitudinally of the pad, a flexible welt supporting member having its central portion secured to the movable toe support and its end portions sustained by, but not secured to, the side supports, and means for bending the ends of said flexible member outward at the side supports and exerting a pull in opposite directions upon their respective extremities.

9. A welt holddown comprising a pair of fixed pivots, a pair of bell cranks supported to swing respectively about said pivots, a U-shaped welt support sustained by an arm of each of the bell cranks, links extending from the other arms of the bell cranks, a transverse equalizer connecting the links, and means for moving the equalizer longitudinally of the welt support to vary the width thereof.

10. A welt holddown comprising a thin plate adapted to enter the welt crease of a shoe and a flexible welt supporting member resting upon the plate and movable over the same.

CHARLES H. PEPIN. 

